An author was on
trial for using the same opening sentence as one already in a published book.
The lawyer won the
case with one sentence:
“Once Upon A Time.”
Once upon a time,
there were no cell phones.
What did people
do?
They sat in front
of their televisions.
Once upon a time,
there was no television.
What did people
do?
They sat around
the radio.
Once upon a time,
there was no radio.
What did people
do?
At night, after
the cares of the day were handled, they encircled a campfire and told stories.
I have the talking
stick and I’m telling a story: “I’m standing in the jungle, see, and two white
rhinos are running full bore towards me. Their hoof beats are shaking the
ground so hard, it’s like we are having an earthquake.
Every cell in my
body screams, “Run!”
Stop!
Think again.
Rhinos have poor
eyesight, but great hearing and smelling. They are after me, not because they
see me, but because they hear or smell me. They will definitely hear if I run.
I will end up with severe piercings or dead.
What do I do?
I take my chances
on their poor eyesight and my morning bath.
I stand stock
still.
The rhinos come
within a few feet of me and stop.
They retreat, but
have second thoughts and come again.
Again, I stand
still, and they stop within feet of me.
After they wander
off, I beat-feet out of there and I’m here to tell the story.
A while later, a
fellow tribesman is in the bush and what does he encounter?
A rhino.
That beast the
size of a small freight train engine begins to charge. My tribesman turns
to run, then remembers the story. Rhinos do not see well but hear very well.
Don’t run.
That smart fellow
stands still.
He is saved.
This is the way we
learned to survive, by stories. By people sharing their experiences and mixing
them up into a story so that people will listen and remember.
The desire for
story has been built into us over the millennia.
Hollywood will
invest millions on a good story if they think it will sell. And that is before
any customer spends a dime on it. (A dime? I remember as a kid, a movie cost a
dime.)
June tells a good
story. June is my 96-year-old friend.
My daughter
videotaped her last week with the intention of querying her about what she ate
growing up.
Her answer?
“Whatever I could get my hands on, and that was mainly fruits and vegetables.”
This was during the great depression, and as the grocery displayed fruits and
vegetables outside his store, that made them an easy grab for a hungry kid.
I was more
interested in her attitude. She’s 96-years-old remember? She must have done
something right.
She lost two
mothers and attended 13 schools before she was in the eighth grade. Her father
abandoned her and her two brothers, she was shuffled around by family members,
and by choice ended up in a girl’s school. She joined the WACS (military) when
she was twenty-one, and while there met the love of her life. They married and
loved for eight years until he was killed in a plane crash.
Not an easy life
huh?
Yet June is the
most positive person I know. Daily she awakens and tells herself “I am strong.
I am healthy, and I love life.”
I tell more about
June in the second module of https://jumpin.blog when I get my website to take it. I’m still trying.
Love your life,
Jo